


Left Alone Again

by nindroidzane



Category: The Centricide (Webseries)
Genre: Child Neglect, Gen, he's a child
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:07:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24221062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nindroidzane/pseuds/nindroidzane
Summary: Little authright visits the grocery store with his parents
Comments: 7
Kudos: 61





	Left Alone Again

**Author's Note:**

> I still can't title these sorry lol

His parents were fighting again. Not with each other, but with some strangers at the grocery store. 

The argument didn't interest him, only being around six years old, but he did catch snippets here and there while he held on to his mother's cart and gazed around the store. 

"-had it first!" 

"-dumb bitch-"

People were beginning to stare. Uncomfortable, he glanced up at the adults. They paid him no attention, locked furiously in whatever discussion they were so angry about. He slipped away unnoticed. 

The store was colourful and the lights were bright, he noticed as he wandered its aisles. It was neat, too. He liked the way the boxes were organized. How rows of identical packages stood together, each different product separated into its own section. It looked better that way.

Maybe he could clean up his house like this. Neat and organized, so everything was pleasant to look at and nobody had to watch their step. His parents would surely appreciate it. Maybe it could even make them happy.

The thought of it was exciting. No more yelling. No more fights. If he was lucky, they'd appreciate it so much that they would stop forgetting about him, and maybe get dinner _every_ day. 

He grinned. That sounded lovely. But for the moment, he had to find them again. They probably wouldn't be looking themselves. 

A few minutes of small pattering feet passed. They had moved from where they argued with those other people, or he was lost. A sniffle escaped him. He kept looking. 

An hour passed. He had circled the store over and over, but they were nowhere to be found. A couple people asked him if he was lost, but he denied it. He knew where he was. He just didn't know where his parents were. Not that he was about to tell anybody that.

Another hour. He was hiding now, in case somebody caught on that he was alone here. A voice crackled over the speakers, asking for a lost child to come to the cash. From his hiding place, he saw a little boy run up to his parents and hug them, crying. The parents hugged him back tightly. They had looked very worried. 

Thinking of his own parents, he looked away. The family left the store. He continued to wait.

The day must have passed. It was closing time. Lacking the courage to stay here by himself in the dark all night, he slunk out of his hiding spot and approached one of the employees. He told them exactly what happened. They looked very surprised. 

"Don't get them in trouble." He mumbled, looking away. They would already be upset with him. 

He didn't know his address or phone number, but he did know what his house looked like. The white one with the broken roof and the messy lawn, he told them. The person he'd told asked around until somebody knew where that was. He got into the strangers car, and they drove him home. 

It was too late to eat with his parents. He should've found help from the store sooner. Instead, he went off to his room after a brief, yelled lecture about wandering off on his own. 

Now he lay in bed, looking around his dimly moonlit room. The window was cracked. The bed was only a mattress on the floor, not like the tall beds at the store. He looked down at his things, mingled on the ground with dirty clothes. 

None of it was at all like the store. Wanting to start his cleaning now, but much too tired to do so, he rolled over to face the wall. Soon enough, he would fix everything up to the way it should be. Neat and organized. Categorized in a way that would look nice and clean. Then everything would be okay. 

He closed his eyes. Everything was going to be okay.


End file.
